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Friday, February 17, 2012

I enjoy Foundation Paper Piecing and have over the years made several projects using this technique, including theSpot On Quilt way back in 2006, and more recently the Geese Around the World Doll Quilt. Paper Piecing involves the use of a foundation upon which fabric pieces are sewn in a particular order; it is a great technique for accurate seams and sharp points.

I do find Foundation Paper Piecing confusing, and each time I attempt this technique it seems that I need to re-learn the basic steps. Once I have re-acquainted myself with these steps it again becomes quite procedural and structured.

It does not come without the occasional error : Oops no seam allowances! - Unfortunately doing is still the best way to learn (as does reading the instructions before trimming the units).

This block is called the Colorado Star and it is from the book titled 50 Fabulous Paper-Pieced Starsby Carol Doak. It's a book I have had in my quilt book library for quite some time and have photocopied foundation papers for numerous blocks, but until now have not sat down to piece any star blocks.

The book includes a detailed step by step tutorial with photographs, as well as a presentation by Carol Doak demonstrating her paper-piecing technique on CD-ROM.

Your stars look great. Thanks for the tips as I'm about to embark on a paper piecing journey through Fat Quarterly Issue 8, I've started a paper piece along and I am a paper piecing virgin! Where did you get your 70gsm paper from? I tried Officeworks yesterday and they only had 80gsm or higher and ended up buying tracing paper 60-65gsm and I'm not sure if that's going to work OK, just want to have a back up plan.

Dolores, from memory the paper came from Kmart. It was cheap and we weren't too happy with the quality for printing documents etc; it was put aside for better quality paper. I knew I bought it for a reason :) it's perfect for paper piecing.

Those look beautiful. I like paper piecing too and tend to favor foundation piecing as you do. Have you used an Add-a-quarter ruler? It is a nifty little tool that helps you add a seam allowance when paper piecing or using templates. I highly recommend it. :)

I've just started getting acquainted with paper piecing and I love it. I've got the star book on hold at my local library - can't wait to try out this star. Thanks for sharing your versions of it. They are lovely.

I do love the crisp points that come from PP. I pre-sew all the sewing lines through the machine but without thread when I PP, makes paper easier to remove and pre-creases the lines. The stars are beautiful, they look like they are turning!

Beautiful colour choices, really make these stars shine. I have tried foundation piecing a few times and always thought it took way too much time, but I am definitely going to think about another try. The modern fabrics against the white just make me look at stars in a completely new light, love that Colorado star.

Those are beautiful stars! I agree that paper piecing is well worth the effort. Thanks for the tips. I hadn't heard that one about not removing the paper until after it was in the block. Does that help to prevent distortion?

I love the accuracy of paper piecing but struggle with putting sections of the block together. Seems like the seams are never in the right direction to allow nesting of them. Is there a trick to getting them to lie (lay?) correctly? Or do you take the paper off, press them the right way and then put the sections together? I have looked all over and can't find an answer to this so maybe it's something I'm not doing correctly to get the seams to lie (lay?) right?

Your blocks look fabulous. I'm a sucker for stars but I find paper pieceing quite intimidating. I have the current Fat Quarterly to help ease me into it when I find the time to sit down and properly give it a go.

Love your stars! They look fabulous!I'm a little confused, maybe it's the difference between Aussie and American quilting... I was taught that "paper" piecing is sewing patches to a paper background, then removing the paper when the top was complete. "Foundation" piecing is sewing patches to a fabric background, which is then left permanently in the quilt. From the details in your post, I'm assuming you're doing what we call "paper piecing"...?